Crumbling
by Light-Ace
Summary: Jade and Cat's relationship is crumbling and neither knows how to salvage it; they can't even stand to look at each other. To make matters worse, Sikowitz is forcing them all on a trip to Arizona, and the group's trips never end well. Cade. Slightly AU.


Despite how it caused her physical pain, Jade's eyes automatically scanned the crowd as she entered the school building, and she didn't have to look hard to see a velvet red head hovering near stupid Tori Vega's locker.

With a deep scowl, Jade ripped her eyes away and stomped over to her own locker, only to come face-to-face with one Robbie Shapiro, smiling and looking cheerful. She was still trying to adjust to seeing him without Rex on his arm.

"What's with you?" Jade asked after giving him a brief glance, inputting the combination for her locker. "Finally realize how hilarious it is that you're dating Trina Vega?"

Robbie snorted and leaned against the lockers, still smiling. "No, actually; I got that a while ago." At that, Jade shot him a raised eyebrow, but he ignored her. "I heard Sikowitz has something really cool to tell us today."

"And what would that be?" Jade asked dryly, shutting her locker and finally giving him her full attention. Robbie shrugged. "A lot of help _you_ are."

With that, she started off down the hall, Robbie falling into step beside her. "By the way," he began as they turned down the hall toward Sikowitz's classroom, "what's been up with you and Cat lately?"

At the mention of Cat, Jade's body automatically tensed, and she growled lowly, "Nothing. Drop it."

She could practically see Robbie's eyebrows raise. "_Okay_ then," he drawled, reaching out and tugging the door open for Jade. "At least _she_ didn't bite my head off," he muttered after she had stalked into the room. He shook his head and followed her.

* * *

It wasn't that she was mad at Cat or anything, but with what had happened two weeks earlier, she didn't really feel comfortable being in close proximity to her. Just thinking about it made her want to go crawl under a rock and die.

And dammit, it hadn't even been her fault. It had been Cat and her stupid hormones raging out of control. They'd been hanging out together and just goofing around – nothing unusual, they did it a few times a week – when out of seemingly nowhere, Cat had kissed her.

Not one of those brief pecks though, this was a real kiss, one that caused a warm feeling to spread to the tips of Jade's fingers as she had wrapped them in Cat's hair. Jade's brain seemed to have shut down; it had to have been at least ten minutes before she realized exactly what she was doing and the most recent message sitting in her phone.

With that realization, she had extracted herself from Cat's warm and inviting grasp, grabbed her things, and made a desperate lunge for the exit. She didn't remember anything of her drive to Beck's, just yanking open the door to his RV and crushing the bones in his arms with a hug.

She also remembered what had happened afterward. Still reeling, she'd told Beck everything, him holding her to his chest and listening calmly to it all. He'd been really cool about the whole thing, actually, much to her relief.

"Good morning, students of mine!"

Sikowitz's cheery voice jolted her out of her thoughts, and she scowled at the sight of him standing in front of the class, wide grin on his face and usual coconut in his hand. It was too early in the morning for this.

"So as some of you may have already heard, I have a surprise for you all today!" he chirped, tapping his fingers on the coconut in a decisively evil-genius way. "We are taking a field trip," past experience said this had bad idea written all over it, "to Arizona!"

He threw up his hands and was promptly greeted by a resounding silence and several raised eyebrows, two of which belonged to Jade and Robbie. Beck was sitting forward with his elbows on his knees, eyes narrowed as if he was wondering if he'd heard Sikowitz wrong. He hadn't, unfortunately.

"And why are we going to Arizona?" Tori asked warily, eyeing Sikowitz and waiting for a ridiculous answer that was to be expected of the lunatic of a teacher.

And Sikowitz wasn't one to disappoint. He threw a wild point at her, bounced on the balls of his feet, and exclaimed, "_Excellent_ question, Tori! We are going to Arizona to explore some ancient ruins, Native American ruins to be exact." He beamed around at all of them.

"Why?" Tori asked what they all were thinking. She was promptly ignored.

Sikowitz clapped his hands together, not even looking in Tori's direction. Instead, he fixed his gaze on Jade and the two she was sitting between, looking overly optimistic considering the faces all three of them were giving him.

"Oh, come on!" he cried, looking around the room. "You all should be _excited_!" The room was silent still; his cheery expression melted quickly off his face. "And if you don't go, you will have to go Christmas yodeling with me this year."

If it was possible, the silence became even louder.

* * *

At least Sikowitz had had the sense to book a flight so they didn't have to drive all the way to Arizona. Not that the plane ride was much fun at all; Jade in particular didn't enjoy it.

By the time they landed, Jade was in a worse mood than she had expected to be. Robbie hopped after her, asking what was wrong, but she ignored him, even when he fell into step beside her and stopped asking. Sometimes Robbie was okay.

It was a short walk to the hotel, and Sikowitz insisted they walk, cheerily leading the way and looking a level of happy that Jade thought should be considered illegal.

After reaching their hotel – much nicer than the last one they'd all stayed at – and checking in, Sikowitz jangled the room keys on his fingers and grinned at them all.

"Time for room assignments!" he sang, ignoring the sour looks on his students' faces. "Andre, you're with Elliot." He tossed a key to Andre, who caught it with a grin, turning as Elliot pushed through the crowd to join him. "Beck and Robbie." Robbie attempted to grab the key, but a smiling Beck reached up and caught it instead, must to Robbie's annoyance. "Jade and Cat."

Jade froze, feeling as if her world was coming down around her. After all that effort she'd put into distancing herself from Cat, and now Sikowitz was putting them together in the same hotel room. Why did she even try; stuff like this always happened.

She just barely broke out of her shock in time to snatch the key before it smacked her in the face, green eyes narrowing as she glared up at Sikowitz. But he was already focused on his list again, naming Tori and her room partner.

As Jade turned instinctively – a cold, sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach – she saw Cat's brown eyes staring across the crowd at her, looking scared. The look was enough to make Jade's eyes drop; dammit, the girl was scared to even be in the same room together when they'd used to spend almost all of their free time together. This week was going to be hell.

* * *

Both of them were quiet the entire way up to their room, even when the rest of their group was in the elevator chatting animatedly. The two of them stood on opposite ends of the elevator, Jade with her arms crossed protectively and Cat with her hands twisting together nervously.

Their room was closest to the elevator, so as Jade opens the door, the others continue on down the hall, leaving the two finally alone. Neither one said anything as they entered the room – it wasn't much, but they'd had much worse. At least there were two beds this time; Jade suspected she would have opted to have slept on the floor if there had been only one.

Having chosen the far bed, Jade sat down on the edge and doubled over to bury her face in her hands. Were they just going to dance awkwardly around each other for the entire trip, not speaking at all? Two weeks of avoiding each other like the Black Death had been enough for Jade to feel like her heart had been ripped out of her chest; this was going to _kill_ her.

She heard a door click and glanced up to see that Cat had vanished, likely to the bathroom. Time to prepare for the most awkward week in existence.

* * *

The next morning, Sikowitz bounced down the hall banging on doors at six in the morning to wake everyone, must to Jade's dismay. A half-hour later, she dragged herself downstairs, feeling mildly murderous. Cat had gotten ready at the speed of light – something she'd never done before in her life – and vanished downstairs before Jade had even found the edge of the bed.

Apparently Jade was the last one to get ready – surprise, surprise – because when she arrived downstairs in the lobby, Sikowitz made an extravagant hand motion and headed for the exit without a single word.

Jade made a confused face before shrugging and slipping through the crowd to join Robbie. As she did so, she spotted Cat's red hair at the front with Tori and Andre, and the sight made her mood slip even lower.

It was an hour hike to the ruins Sikowitz had mentioned, and by the time they finally came into sight, Jade just wanted to go back to the hotel and awkwardly avoid Cat in their room. Hell, maybe she could go back to sleep.

However, she just started climbing the ruins beside Robbie, just waiting for her foot to slip and she end up at the bottom with thirty broken bones. No such luck though; she reached the top without falling to her doom and picked her way after Sikowitz and the others, Robbie flailing behind her as he almost tripped and fell on his face.

"Hey," she heard Tori say as she caught up with them, "_now_ will you tell us why we're here?"

"Sure," Sikowitz chirped, stepping over a particularly large piece of rubble. Jade perked up, listening intently. "We are here to–" he paused, though so he could focus on not tripping or just for dramatic effect, Jade didn't know, "look for ancient treasure. Exciting, right?"

Something inside of Jade snapped at that reveal. She stopped dead, and she could have sworn Cat twitched as if she had been about to look back at her. "_What?_" Jade snarled, effectively stopping the four in front of her. "We're just here to look for some stupid treasure you think is here? How the hell did you even get this trip approved?"

Sikowitz shrugged. "The same way we got a ping-pong team."

"That's it! I'm done! I'm going back to the hotel!"

With that, Jade spun on her heel and stomped back the way they'd come, white fury bubbling in her. Why wouldn't this trip be fucking horrible like the fucking rest of them?

As she was fuming at the stupidity of her teacher, she wasn't watching where she was going and thus didn't see the unstable part of the ruins she was stepping on. She felt air under her foot, and the next thing she knew, she was flailing hopelessly in an attempt to grab hold of something to catch herself.

She didn't find anything, though, and the gap quickly shrunk before everything went black.

* * *

Damn, this hotel bed was really uncomfortable. Jade groaned and started to roll over to try and find a more comfortably position, only for a sharp pain to spike up her arm. She let out a yelp, and as her other arm grabbed the origin point of the pain, she opened her eyes and realized she definitely wasn't at the hotel.

"Fuck," she groaned, pressing the back of her head into the sandy dirt. She felt like she'd been hit by a car, at least the size of an SUV.

She glared up at the small patch of sunlight she could see, cursing Sikowitz, ancient Native Americans and their stupid ruins, the world, and herself for being so stupid as to not watch where she was stepping. This was definitely _not_ her month; everything that could go wrong had done just that.

With another groan and a grimace of pain, Jade forced herself into a sitting position, realizing when she did so that her back was completely drenched in water. She shifted in the sand and saw that she'd crushed her bag underneath her, and her water had burst and made a small lake on the ground that she'd been laying in for who knows how long.

After quickly digging through the bag, she came up with her cell phone, miraculously undamaged despite the fall and rough landing. However, there was no signal. Of course.

Resisting the urge to slam the phone into a nearby rock, she shifted the bag onto her back and hauled herself – literally – to her feet. Pain burned in her muscles as she did so, but she managed to stand up straight to find that she had in fact not broken anything. Maybe there was a silver lining to this after all. Besides, surely somebody would come after her. Robbie, Andre, and Beck would at least, and Tori would likely feel obligated.

She firmly kept her thoughts from straying to Cat; she didn't need another problem right now.

As she picked her way over the rubble, searching around for a possible route up to the gap in the ceiling, she caught a glimpse of red in the gloom. At first, she thought that someone had just dropped something into another hole and had to abandon it, but just as she was turning to continue her circle, something clicked in her mind and she began scrambling over the piles and piles of debris toward the splash of red.

After almost falling to the ground once again when her foot slipped, Jade vaulted over a particularly large stone and found her worst fears confirmed. She hadn't been the only one to fall; Cat was splayed out unconscious across several pieces of debris, one of her arms positioned unnaturally but luckily not blood-soaked.

"_Fuck_," Jade repeated, louder this time. Why did it have to be Cat?

Her stomach lurched at the sight of the twisted arm, but she forced herself to keep her breakfast as she dropped to her knees and brushed a hand cautiously against Cat's cheek. No reaction.

Jade sat back on her ankles and ran a hand through her hair, wondering what she should do. She didn't want to jostle her injury too bad, but Cat was out cold and she couldn't just leave her here splayed awkwardly – and likely painfully. As she was, Cat would be in incredible pain when she woke up anyway; leaving her where she was was just going to make things worse.

With another vehement swear, Jade pulled herself back to her feet, murmured "I'll be back" more softly than she wanted to hear herself say, and began to move fallen debris to make a more comfortable place for Cat's unconscious form to lay. It took at least ten minutes and much exertion, growling, and swearing, but she got it how she wanted it eventually.

She dropped her backpack near the edge and picked her way through the small path she'd made back to Cat, who was still unconscious and in the same position Jade had found her. She'd tried to work as fast as possible; she did _not_ want Cat waking up where she was currently.

"If you ever do one smart thing in your life," Jade mumbled, crouching and attempting to find the least painful way to carry Cat, "_please_ don't wake up now."

Resigned to her fate and sincerely hoping that Cat didn't choose now to wake up, Jade slid her arms under Cat – one under her legs and the other her shoulders – and carefully lifted her off the ground. Cat weighed about as much as she looked, and despite her weary muscles, she was the easiest thing Jade had moved so far. Curling her arms so that Cat was cradled against her chest, Jade sidled through the gap to the open area.

Just as she was about to lower her to the ground, Cat shifted ever so slightly. Jade froze, wide eyes zooming down to Cat's face. But she was completely still again, the only sign that she'd moved a slight upturn to the corners of her lips, a sight that Jade chose to ignore. Guess she hadn't felt the pain after all; she'd probably just caught a brief sniff of Jade's shirt before sinking back down into the depths of unconsciousness again. The thought didn't make Jade feel any better.

Crisis thankfully averted, Jade carefully lowered Cat to the ground again, making sure her arm was set away from her body and pointedly ignoring the gruesome sight. Arms resting on her thighs, Jade paused for a moment before standing up and resuming her search for an escape route – not that she would leave without Cat now – eyes lingering on the slight smile on Cat's face. For one crazy moment, Jade felt the urge to just sit there and watch her until she woke, but the rational part of her brain quickly intervened. She wasn't just going to sit here like a damsel in distress; she was going to look for a way out, goddammit.

Before she stood up though, she reached out and brushed the backs of her fingers against her cheek, feeling herself soften at the touch despite herself. Ignoring the twinge in the pit of her stomach, Jade stood back up and, without another glance at Cat, resumed her search.

It was some time later – she hadn't checked her phone and thus had literally no idea of time passing – after Jade had ripped her fingernails and indeed most of her hands to shreds from attempting to _make_ a way up, when she finally heard a sound that wasn't her own in the silence of the prison cell.

Jade's head jerked around to see the form of Cat stirring, finally. Without a thought, she began scrambling over the debris, worried and determined to keep Cat from moving her arm. Whenever Cat woke up, she had a tendency to stretch all her muscles, but the last thing she needed to do was such to her left arm.

She got there just as Cat began to really move, sliding down on one knee in front of her and touching her shoulder with hesitant fingers. Cat jerked in surprise and let out a squeal of pain; in response, Jade scrunched her face – the sound causing her heart to lurch – and cursed herself for not being able to stop her.

"Don't move," Jade ordered softly as Cat turned quizzical eyes on her, questions burning in them. Jade chose the most obvious one to answer. "I think you fell after I did. Does anything else besides your arm hurt?"

Cat blinked at her for a few seconds before shaking her head slightly. For some reason, the fact that Cat still wouldn't speak to her even after what had happened infuriated Jade, and she felt herself begin to bristle.

"Just talk to me," she growled, eyes narrowing seriously. "I'm not going to play twenty questions with you this whole time. Are you okay?"

For a long moment, Cat just looked at her, her eyes having even gone expressionless. The sight of her complete lack of expression made a slight panic begin to rise in Jade; she hated this new Cat. _Hated_ it.

"Please, baby. Just talk to me." The term of endearment left her mouth before she even thought about it, and when she realized what she'd said, she wanted to reach out and take it back. Cat make no outward reaction to the word. It was too late now; she just needed to press on. "I just want to make sure you're okay."

There must have been something in her face that finally convinced her, because after a beat, Cat said in a voice so small the air almost swallowed it, "I'm sorry."

All of the breath in Jade's lungs whooshed out of her, and she sank the rest of the way to the ground in relief. "I know, baby. I know. I just–" She sighed. "How's your arm?"

"It hurts," Cat mumbled, eyes meeting Jade's for a moment before flicking away again. Jade felt another twinge in her stomach, and she curled her fingers so her broken nails pressed uncomfortably into her palms. "What about you?"

Jade hunched forward, eyes tracing the seam of Cat's shirt so she didn't have to look at her eyes. "Aside from crushing my water when I fell and completely soaking myself because of it, I'm fine. Just a little sore."

She felt eyes on her, and her eyes pulled up despite herself to see Cat watching her, expression one of concern. The look on her face was enough to make Jade tear her eyes away again, unable to look at her lest she curl into herself and never move again.

"I'm looking for a way out," she explained when she felt Cat's smaller fingers tugging on her own, forcing her fist to open. "And attempting to make one," she added as the tips of Cat's fingers brushed against her abused nails. "I'm gonna get back to work; let me know if you need anything."

Cat nodded silently, and after a long beat, Jade stood up and carefully made her way back to where she'd been before Cat had woken up. As she went, she could feel Cat's eyes glued to her back the entire way. When she discreetly glanced back, she saw that Cat had curled up into as tight of a ball as she could, cradling her arm and expressionlessly watching Jade's movements.

To Jade, she looked like an abused animal, just waiting for the abuser to attack it again. The sight of it made Jade feel terrible, knowing she was the source of it. She hadn't meant to hurt her, just let her know she wasn't interested, but instead, she'd pushed her best friend as far away as she possibly could have. With a grim anger, Jade began working again, more infuriated at herself than anything. This was all her fault. It was her fault Cat was petrified of her, and it was her fault Cat was even down here.

If it had been physically possible to kick herself in the head, she would have done it.

Time passed, and Jade soon became aware that it was getting darker in their makeshift prison. Right now would be a good time to try and scrounge up some firewood and a usable fire-starter. Cat was scared to death of the dark, and once the sun set, the only source of light was going to be the stars and the moon through the small gaps in the ceiling.

Abandoning her attempts of making a way out, Jade instead began searching through the rubble, searching hopefully for some dry wood or maybe even possibly some flint. Some flint would be amazing. Cat's eyes followed her progress around the room, but she didn't ask what she was doing. In fact, she hadn't spoken another word since she'd woken up.

Miraculously, Jade managed to gather a respectable amount of firewood and two small rocks of flint. The supplies in her arms, she crossed back to Cat and began to make a teepee out of the wood to catch the sparks. Cat's eyes didn't leave her, but by this point, she was more than used to it.

The air was just beginning to feel chilly when the sparks from the flint finally caught and allowed Jade to fan them into an actual flame. Feeling accomplished, she sat back on her hands, smiling happily at the little fire. She glanced up just in time to see Cat duck her head, the trace of a smile on her lips. Jade felt her own smile grow, and she dropped her eyes to watch the flames.

After a little while – Jade had become completely lost in her own thoughts – Cat finally spoke again. "Jade?" she breathed, and Jade's ears perked up at the sound.

"Yeah?" she asked, looking up to see Cat trailing a finger through the sand and refusing to look up at her. "What's up–" She bit her tongue to stop herself from adding 'baby' to the end.

It was silent again, Jade patiently awaiting what Cat wanted to say. If there was any time to exert the little patience she had, this was definitely it.

Eventually, Cat broke the silence again. "I really am sorry about what happened."

Jade felt her expression soften, but she dropped her eyes and picked up a stick she'd found, prodding the fire with it for something to do. "Whatever," she mumbled with a shrug. "I'm not even mad anymore."

There was barely a pause before words began spilling from Cat's mouth at an incredible rate. "I don't even know why I did it. I just – you were smiling – I really like it when you smile – and before I knew it, I was kissing you. It was stupid of me to do so, and I really just want to be friends again and forget–"

"Cat. Cat!" At the sound of her name, Cat paused, brown eyes brimming with unshed tears. Jade's stomach twisted, and she tightened her grip on the stick she was holding. "It's fine, I _promise_," she soothed earnestly. "Besides," she added, mood darkening, "Beck was gonna break up with me anyway. C-can we just drop this?" She scrubbed a hand through her hair before leaning forward to rest her head in her palms. "I really don't want to talk about it."

She could almost hear Cat's brain kicking into overdrive. Yes, Beck had broken up with her. Yes, it was partly because of the kiss, but it wasn't what Cat was thinking. It wasn't _her_ fault. It was Jade's. This was all Jade's fault.

When she'd told Beck everything the night it had happened, she had really told him _everything_. She'd enjoyed the kiss more than she wanted to admit, and when she'd reluctantly told Beck as much, he'd just rocked her in his arms and pressed his face into her neck, murmuring words that weren't much comfort.

If it hadn't been for that kiss – the one that had caused so much trouble – Jade likely never would have even considered Cat in that light. But she had, and Beck had seen what she'd refused to even face. He had pressed his nose against the side of her neck and suggested that maybe she'd liked it for a _reason_, even if she didn't want to admit it to herself.

She hadn't deserved him, and now she didn't have him. Well, she did, but not as a boyfriend anymore. After he'd said what he had, she'd pulled back to look at him in surprise, only to see him smile and nod. An expression that didn't belong on Jade West's face rested there – fear – but he'd just nodded again and pressed a kiss to her forehead and whispered for her to do it. She'd whimpered from the fear and buried her face in his chest, clinging to him like a life preserver. And he'd let her do it, let her quiver against him for the better part of two hours.

Jade blinked, and the first thing she noticed was that Cat was fast asleep across the fire, eyebrows pulled together in worry even as she slept. The second thing she noticed was that the fire was attempting to go out.

With a frown, she reached over to pick up several pieces of wood and added them to the fire, prodding the small flames with her stick in an attempt to convince it to come back to life. It obediently did so, leaving Jade to turn her attention to the sleeping Cat across the fire.

She sat there for what had to be thirty minutes before she sighed, growled "Screw it", and crawled on all fours around the fire so she was laying with her arm wrapped over Cat's stomach, hand gripping Cat's wrist so she didn't accidentally move it in her sleep. With a tiny, happy sound, Cat wriggled back into Jade's warmth in her sleep, back pressing against Jade's chest.

Feeling happy and content for the first time in weeks, Jade nuzzled her head into the crook of Cat's neck and took a deep breath – strawberries – literally feeling all the muscles in her body relax. A smile twitching at her lips, Jade pressed a brief kiss to Cat's neck before allowing herself to drift off.

* * *

Jade was awoken from the best sleep she'd had in weeks by the early morning sunlight streaming through the hole in the ceiling she'd made the day before. She grumbled darkly and pressed her face into the crook of Cat's neck in an attempt to block out the sunlight and go back to sleep.

After a minute though, she found herself waking up instead of drifting off and let out a resigned sigh. She was awake now; there was no way she was going to be able to go back to sleep, despite how comfortable she was. And she was definitely comfortable.

For a minute, Jade debated sliding back around to where she'd been the night before, but when she even so much as shifted to pull her head back, Cat made an unhappy noise and pressed herself closer to Jade. So much for that idea.

A small smile on her face, Jade let her head fall back against the sand and watched the sunlight make shadows on the wall. The air – which had cooled off quite a bit in the night – began to warm up, and Jade could feel herself beginning to grow drowsy again.

Just as she was beginning to drift off again, she felt Cat stir. As usual, she made to stretch her arms, but Jade tightened her grip on her wrist, which effectively stopped Cat's movement entirely. Her muscles tensed, and she shifted so she was laying flat on her back, wide and panicked eyes on Jade.

It took Jade's mind a moment to get her fingers to release Cat's wrist and her body to shift back out of Cat's personal space. Feeling as if she was going to explode from the anxiety she was feeling, Jade fixed her eyes on a point on the far wall, fingers twisting together nervously.

After what felt like at least three hours, Jade started at the feeling of hesitant fingers brushing her cheek. Despite warning bells that were going off in her mind, Jade let herself lean into the warmth, eyes falling shut as Cat's palm pressed against her cheek.

"Jade?" Cat's voice said after a minute of silence. Her voice quivered slightly, and Jade didn't blame her in the slightest for being confused. Hell, _she_ was confused.

But she was just going to go with it.

"I'm sorry," she murmured, feeling Cat's thumb trace her cheekbone. There was another twinge in her stomach. "Forgive me, please."

As she was sitting there staring at the back of her eyelids, she felt Cat's hand slide around to the back of her neck and tug her down. She opened her eyes to find herself just a few inches from Cat's sheepishly smiling face.

"Of course," she breathed before putting Jade's head down the rest of the way to kiss her.

* * *

"Maybe I could call you some variation of the Big Bad Wolf. I mean, Andre calls me Little Red and all."

Jade laughed and nuzzled her head into the crown of Cat's head. "That would imply that I was planning to eat you for dinner, baby. But," she paused, Cat craning her neck to look up at her, "I think I get used to it."

With a happy giggle, Cat gave her a brief kiss. "You're my Wolf, then."

"I like that," Jade growled with a playful snap at her. Smiling even broader, Cat buried her face in the crook of Jade's neck again.

They laid on the sand in silence for a while, Jade tracing patterns on Cat's palm. Finally, when it looked around noon from what little of the sky Jade could see, she heard other people calling both her name and Cat's.

"They're back!" Cat cried, making to stand up. Jade pressed her fingers against her shoulder and stood up instead, heading toward a hole so she could see up.

"Beck!" she yelled as loud as she could. "Robbie! Andre!" She refused to call Tori's name; it was a pride thing.

The yelling above went silent, and a few seconds later, Robbie appeared in the gap. "Hey, Jade!" he called, grinning broadly. "How's it going?"

"Shut up and get us the hell outta here," Jade snarled. "Cat's got a broken arm, and I'd like to murder Sikowitz for causing it."

With a laugh, Robbie disappeared.

It was nearly a half-hour later by the time both Jade and Cat were back above ground, paramedics giving Cat a temporary cast while Jade sat nearby being filled in by Beck and Robbie. Apparently nobody had wanted to head out to the ruins because by the time they would have hiked out there, the sun would have set. So they had had to wait until the next morning to set off.

"Figures," Jade said with a snort that doubled as an exasperated sigh. "Just leave us in some ancient ruins for the night; _maybe_ we'll be there the next morning." She took a swallow of the water the paramedics had given her. "Can I go _home_ now? This trip's been almost as bad as the one to Yerba."

"Almost?" Beck pressed, but Jade was saved from replying by the paramedics saying they needed to leave so they could get the two of them to a hospital and get Cat a real cast.

Jade gave Beck a brief smirk before standing and holding out a hand to Cat to help her up.

One long hike later, Cat and Jade were herded into the back seat of a car bound for the hospital. Aside from Cat's cast, they also wanted to make sure nothing else had happened in their twelve hours trapped underground.

As they were en route to the hospital, Jade was lounging against the car door drowsily watching the scenery go by. The long walk to the car combined with the early morning wake-up was enough to make her want to curl up in a ball and go back to sleep.

The next thing she knew, something warm was pressing against her side. Her head jerked up in surprise, and she blinked blearily to see Cat looking up at her, a worried expression on her face.

"Sorry, I just thought–"

She didn't get to finish, though, before Jade leaned down and kissed her roughly, twisting in her seat despite the belt and lifting a hand to Cat's neck to hold her close. By the time she pulled back, she could feel her heart thundering against her ribs. Cat's eyes were closed, and she was panting slightly.

"You startled me is all," Jade said under her breath, sliding an arm around Cat's waist to rest her hand on Cat's thigh. As Cat rested her head on Jade's shoulder, Jade pressed her cheek into the crown of her head. "I'm not running away this time, I promise."

* * *

**2 Weeks Later**

"We could always just skip last period," Jade suggested into Cat's ear, wrapping her arms around her girlfriend's waist and setting her chin on her shoulder. "It's nice outside. We could go to the park and just sit."

Cat melted into the embrace, taking one of Jade's hands from her waist and pressing a kiss to the palm. "As tempting as that sounds, you're in trouble enough for ditching. It's just an hour." She seemed to see the disappointed look that appeared on Jade's face because after kissing Jade's fingers, she added, "You don't even have to pay attention. Work on your play; I want to read it."

It wasn't like she wasn't right. Lane was already on Jade's back for just skipping classes she didn't feel like going to, and he was nothing if not relentless.

"I see your point," Jade relented with a sigh. "I'll get it finished for you."

Reluctantly, Jade released Cat, who turned and lifted up on her toes to kiss her briefly. "I expect progress. See you in an hour, Wolf."

And with a flirtatious wink and a smirk, Cat turned and walked off to class. Jade waited until she was out of sight before turning and heading toward her own class.

No sooner had she opened the door than Tori Vega zoned in on her for at least the hundredth time since she'd seen Jade and Cat after they'd returned from the hospital. Jade sighed – this was why she wanted to skip this class – and flopped down in her desk. She blinked and Tori was standing in front of her, hands planted on her hips.

"For the tenth time today, Vega," Jade said lowly through teeth clenched in a smile, "the answer to your question is none of your damn business, and I'd really appreciate it if you turned and marched your little nosy ass back to your seat and left me the hell alone."

Tori didn't move but just scowled deeply. "Why won't you just tell me? You and Cat were avoiding each other like the plague, and now it's like you're a pair of magnets or something."

"It's called a relationship," Jade replied sharply, fake smile melting into the darkest look she could muster – which, considering who she was talking to, looked like a look Satan would make. "Maybe if you could actually find a guy that wasn't a complete jackass, you'd known what one was."

Red swept across Tori's face, and Jade allowed herself a moment to revel in pushing Tori's buttons. "I know _that_," she growled. "My question is what happened to make you two avoid each other like you did?"

Jade sat forward on her crossed arms and leered up at her. "And I said that's none of your damn business, didn't I? Numerous times. It's not, is it? And neither is your question about me and Beck. Or the one about if the two actions are related. So leave me alone, and stop asking stupid questions."

For a long moment, the two glared at each other. Then finally, Tori broke the contact and walked back toward her seat. Jade sat back in her seat, satisfied smirk creeping on her face.

As Tori hunched forward her seat – anger still visibly radiating from her – Jade opened her bag and pulled out her notebook with Cat's play sitting half-written inside it, and after letting her eyes linger on the start date some month earlier, she flipped open to where she'd left off and began writing.

* * *

Jade was broken out of her stupor by the sound of someone rapping on the side of her car. She looked up from where she'd been staring at the asphalt lost in thought to see Trina looking down at her, a smile on her lips.

"Hi," Jade said as Trina walked around the door to lean against the side of the car. "You're not Cat."

With a soft laugh, Trina shook her head. "No, I'm not. How's her arm, by the way?"

"Healing," Jade replied. "She goes back for a checkup in a few weeks. What's up?"

If there was ever an unlikely friendship, it was Jade and Trina, even more so than Trina and Robbie's relationship. The two of them talked often, and Jade felt like she could tell Trina pretty much anything.

"You and Cat have been pretty cozy lately, huh?" Trina sang, giving her friend a pointed look. Jade fought a smile and stared back down at the asphalt.

They had been, actually. Jade drove Cat to and from school every day, kissed her between classes, and generally made sure that the entire school knew that Cat was taken by the Big Bad Wolf. She was even more protective since Cat's arm was in the cast, wanting to make sure it healed properly.

"Yeah," Jade mumbled distractedly. "Though your sister is threatening to make me strangle her. Could you get her to leave me alone?"

Trina snorted. "Yeah, right. Like she'd listen to me. Anyway, what exactly happened? For a while there, you two didn't have anything to do with each other."

With a deep sigh, Jade replied, "It's a long story."

"I've got time," Trina said with a smirk. "Robbie's working on a project today. Give me the short version, then," she added at the indecisive look on Jade's face. "I'll leave when Cat gets here."

Jade looked up at her, mulling over the decision. She told Trina almost everything – things she didn't, she told Cat – and this was no different. So with a nod and the beginnings of a smile on her lips, Jade told her everything.

* * *

_I feel the epilogue-like part could have been better, but I'm satisfied enough with what I wrote. I've spent way too much time tinkering with this oneshot anyway._

_Anyway, that's enough of me. Hope you enjoyed it!_


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